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Like many small communities, Brookville has quite a history. And since 1993 the efforts of teachers in the Brookville Area School District and the Jefferson County Historical Society have combined to make sure elementary students are aware of their roots.
Carole Briggs, a retired Brookville elementary teacher and a member of PSEA-Retired, was among those who originated the program 25 years ago. Today, she still plays a key role as volunteer curator of the Jefferson County History Center.
Briggs feels local history is particularly important for rural kids whose communities aren’t as well-known statewide or nationally.
“Rural kids have a history and a culture, too,’’ she said. “We want to build up a sense of being.’’
The program does that by first giving students classroom lessons, and then by taking them into the actual community to explore history.
Diane Amsler, third-grade social studies teacher at Brookville Elementary School, teaches a unit on local history that culminates with a spring field trip to historical sites in the morning and an in-depth educational experience that afternoon at the history center.
“It’s a wonderful experience, and not just for the kids,’’ Amsler said, adding that parent volunteers and other teachers on this spring’s field trip remarked how much they learned about Brookville’s past.
It’s one thing to hear about the history of the 900-seat Marlin Opera House that dates to the 1800s, or the Columbia Theater, which is in Ripley’s Believe It or Not for being the only theater in the world where patrons enter from behind the screen. Or to hear about famous son Charles Bowdish, whose miniature and model railroad collections are displayed at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh.
It’s another to tour those buildings and to see some of Bowdish’s original creations at the local history center.
Students also learn about the area’s Native American heritage, a once-thriving lumber industry, and how national events played out in Brookville. Ever the teacher, Briggs this spring re-enacted the first woman to vote in Brookville and talked about Susan B. Anthony’s visit to Brookville during the women’s suffrage movement.
In addition to Briggs’ presentation at the center, students took part in scavenger hunts in which they had to find the answers to historical questions, learned how to handle artifacts, and even played museum curators.
The field trip involves weeks of preparation by Briggs, other center volunteers, and teachers.
“We are trying to develop an awareness that there is a historical past in our community, and to know how the area came to be’’ said Karen Shriver, third-grade head teacher. “We are linking what is taught in the classroom with the actual community.’’
